'Idol' is Aerosmith's golden ticket
Steven Tyler's popularity on "American Idol" is boosting Aerosmith's music sales.
Since Season 10 premiered Jan. 19, with Tyler making his debut on the judges' panel alongside Jennifer Lopez, sales of his band's "Greatest Hits" collections have shot up more than 250 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Aerosmith's 1994 compilation "Big Ones" saw a 260 percent increase in sales after the show's premiere. Likewise, 2004's "Devil's Got a New Disguise: The Very Best of Aerosmith" saw a spike of 146 percent after week 2 of "Idol." Two more "Greatest Hits" collections registered surges of 137 percent and 147 percent. Before the Fox show's launch, Aerosmith catalog sales were on the decline, selling fewer than 1,000 copies a week. That number has swelled to well over 2,000 per release.
In the singles arena, Aerosmith is also seeing a dramatic uptick. For the week ending Jan. 30, the band sold 34,000 downloads of the Diane Warren-penned "Idol" perennial "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," which winner David Cook sang in Season 7, an increase of 363 percent.
"Dream On," Aerosmith's breakout hit from 1973, saw 26,000 downloads, good for a 318 percent spike over the previous week.
Perhaps the biggest boost will come to Aerosmith as the band heads in the studio to record its first album since 2004's "Honkin' on Bobo." The band recently completed eight days of writing, with plans for a release sometime this year.